Northport says stop dumping, looting

Wednesday

Feb 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM

NORTHPORT | For more than a year, the Salvation Army Thrift Store has been battling a problem: People dump donations after hours and then looters sift through the items, leaving stuff strewn across the store’s parking lot on Sundays and holidays.

By Lydia Seabol AvantStaff Writer

NORTHPORT | For more than a year, the Salvation Army Thrift Store has been battling a problem: People dump donations after hours and then looters sift through the items, leaving stuff strewn across the store’s parking lot on Sundays and holidays. But the nonprofit organization hopes that, with the help of the Northport police and Northport City Council, the problem will soon end. The Salvation Army has posted new warning signs in front of its thrift store. The signs cite city code and state that looters and people who leave donations after hours will be prosecuted.“The new signs went up Friday and we started informing anyone who came in the store that you can’t donate here after hours or they could be prosecuted,” store manager Michael Lane said Tuesday.While the Salvation Army depends heavily on donated items to fund programs that help people in need, none of the items dropped off in front of the store after hours can be used. Instead, the after-hours stuff goes to the dump. Every Monday morning, Salvation Army staff members spend a couple of hours collecting the stuff left outside and load the items into a truck to haul off to the dump. Some weekends, it may be only half a truck full of trashed donations. But on holiday weekends, it can take more than a truckload and several hours of cleaning up for the staff. That’s manpower, gas and money that the Salvation Army shouldn’t have to spend to clean up items that could have been donated during the store’s hours, Lane said. “We appreciate those donations, but they put them out there and then people come by and rummage through it,” Capt. Dean Moretz of the Salvation Army said last year. “That makes it worse, because they break through the bags, sometimes even defecate on the donations. It’s disgusting.”The Northport Police Department is aware of the situation and a letter has been sent to Interim Chief Kerry Card requesting increased patrols of the area, said Northport City Council member Judy Hayes. Because the problem has not been solved, Hayes said that the city had to get involved. The Salvation Army Thrift Store is next door to City Hall on McFarland Boulevard. “I talked to the municipal judge and asked that we throw the book at them and charge them the fine, or they can serve their time in jail,” Hayes said, referring to people who sift through the donations left outside. “People need to know what they are doing is stealing and they need to be more cognizant that people are having to clean up after them.”When charged with a fine for looting or dumping, a court appearance is required and the fine is decided by the municipal court judge.While the Salvation Army wants and depends on donated items, it’s important that donations be made during store hours when the items can be brought inside the store, not after hours when they are left out in the rain, sifted through or worse, Lane said. The Salvation Army Thrift Store is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday. Donations are accepted during those hours.